Monthly Archives: March 2011

‘In 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Paul talks about Christ’s servants who have been entrusted with God’s mysteries… What are they? Well, we can read about them in the Bible. God has revealed them to us. We understand a lot about mysteries once we have opened our hearts to the Lord Jesus. He reveals them to us through His Spirit. And we should pass them on. I will mention one of them, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If we are prepared to accept this amazing mystery of God, we need to pass it on. We need to be faithful and spread the news about this amazing truth and many other truths. It makes us so happy and thankful to know such a mystery. And what does God expect us to do? He expects us to be faithful, that is all. Love and obedience go together. But our task is not a small one. Paul talks about it: we are Christ’s messengers, God’s way of bidding us to be reconciled with Him.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). It meant that each Christian should be a missionary. You in your small corner, and I in mine. Is it possible? Of course it is. Second Timothy 1:7 says, “For God did not give us a Spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” We need not rely on our own capabilities, but on God’s. We need not depend on our limited strength, but on His unlimited power. Does this really mean that each Christian, whether called to be a housewife, a factory worker, or a tradesman, is in charge of God’s mysteries? Are they stewards of His mysteries?

My father had a watchmaker’s shop. He would sometimes say to me, “My name is on the shop, while it’s God’s name that should be on it. I’m a watchmaker by the grace of God.” Each Christian is building the kingdom of God, no matter whether you’re a watchmaker, a mason, a housewife,or a professor, or wherever you may be called to be.

You can be quite original about your calling. A little while ago I was talking to a coal merchant. He told me he had two telephones beside each other. “Quite often I have two conversations using both phones,” he said. “Down one I am giving spiritual care, and I talk about the Lord Jesus, while on the other one I’m taking an order for coal. It means they can both hear what I’m saying, I will ask the second one to wait a minute, and meanwhile he will be hearing the Word of God. When I have finished, I will ask, ‘How much coal do you need?’” That is how he understood his calling to be a steward of God’s mysteries and simultaneously a steward of the coal business.

We are only asked to be faithful. Isn’t it wonderful that we don’t even need to try and be faithful relying on our own strength? In Galatians 5:22 we read about the fruit of the Spirit which also includes faithfulness. We will work together: He who commands us to be faithful on the one hand and us on the other. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Holding Jesus’ hand, we remain faithful. And we can see our calling, even though everything may seem dark and lost. …’